Another Donald Trump campaign event is now mired in racially charged controversy, a move that's pretty on-brand for the leading Republican candidate. As many as 30 black students were reportedly kicked out of a rally by alleged Secret Service agents at Trump's request, USA Today reports. The rally, which took place at Valdosta State University, in Georgia, on Monday, also included flashes of Trump's typically fourth-grader-friendly rhetoric. "Now I’m going to be greedy for the United States," Trump told the audience. "I’m going to take, take, take and we’re going to become rich again."
"We didn’t plan to do anything," Tahjila Davis, a 19-year-old VSU student, told USA Today. "They said, 'This is Trump’s property; it’s a private event.' But I paid my tuition to be here." The students politely agreed to be escorted out of the event by alleged Secret Service agents before calmly pleading with law enforcement officials for an explanation. VSU, it's worth noting, was a whites-only university until 1963.
"You tell me."
"There is no truth to this whatsoever," Trump spokesperson Hope Hicks said in a statement. According to Hicks, Trump and his campaign "had no knowledge" of this incident. Additionally, a Secret Service spokesperson told USA Today that agents were in the area for Trump's event but would have only been there for "monitoring." However, the former reality TV star's rhetoric is clearly resonating with white supremacists.
"Voting against Donald Trump at this point is really treason to your heritage," David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard and current host of the David Duke Radio Program, told his followers last week. According to a transcript obtained by BuzzFeed News, Duke also called for his listeners to actively engage with the Trump campaign because they were likely to find others with "the same kind of mindset."
For additional hints of white supremacy, see the time Trump allegedly responded to an inquiry regarding the difference between his proposed Muslim database plan and Nazi Germany with this:
